Monday, August 24, 2015

Book Review: Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

Not having read the first book in the series (Trial By Fire), I found the world building in Firewalker to be a bit lacking, but still enjoyed the story.

I received this ARC from a magazine, and I don't usually read the blurbs on the back of books. Nothing on the front cover or spine indicated this book was part of a series. I didn't realize this was the second book until I reached the last page, which said "End of Book Two." No wonder I felt like I had missed out on some details.

Lily is a witch and has just returned from a parallel universe with her lover, healer, and her head mechanic, Rowan. Lily has been badly burned and is close to death. Rowan begins the long process to heal her. Everyone in this world (ours) thinks Lily was kidnapped, so there is much confusion among the authorities.

Lily eventually heals and goes back to school. Now that her powers are strong, she can feel the connection to her friends, Tristan, Breakfast, and Una. They have magic too, and are potential mechanics for Lily too.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Rowan, Lily is in contact with Lillian from the other universe. The one who almost killed Lily. But there's more to the story than Rowan knows, and Lily wants to find out what it is.

They end up back in the other world, fighting the Woven (bad, bad scary creatures of all different shapes and sizes.) The plot builds up to a huge battle at the end.

Like I said, my first problem is that I felt like I was thrown into this world and things were not explained very well. So that's my fault, not the book's. Secondly, I felt this book was drawn out too much. It takes a long time to actually get to the action, then they encounter the Woven several times, all of which are kind of the same. It felt very repetitive and I kept thinking, "Get on with it!"

Thirdly, and probably my biggest pet peeve about books, is that there is absolutely no resolution. The battle ends, people are dead, and that's it. This doesn't qualify as a complete story. It should not be contained in a book cover. It's a set of chapters that should be a part of another book. It sounds like the first one ended with the same awful cliffhanger too. That's just a huge negative for me that I have a really hard time getting over.

The characters and world are interesting. The way their magic works is unique. The writing is easy to read other than it dragging a bit.

Firewalker is the kind of fantasy I like -- based on real people in the real world (at least partly.) I would suggest waiting until the entire series is available and read them all at once, since it's really just one story anyway.

Gadget

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About Me

I'm a high school librarian. I live in a small, fairly rural town with my husband, and a dog who is very spoiled. I love to read. I read mostly YA, my favorite is historical fiction, but I mix in the occasional adult novel and even some non-fiction. I love to write about what I've read and chat with others about what they've read, so blogging is perfect! I've just moved into a brand new house so I'm spending a lot of time decorating. My other hobbies are cooking and sewing.

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Some of the books I review are Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) which are provided by a publisher or author to get my honest opinion of the book. The books are free, I get to keep them, and that's the only compensation I get for the review. Here's the FTC Guidelines.